Venus and Earth are similar in size, bulk composition, internal heat generation and planetary differentiation. Like Earth, Venusian surface relief is at least partially compensated isostatically at some depth in the mantle and is partially supported by the dynamics of mantle convection. The “continental” crustal rocks of Venus are less dense than its mantle, but are much more globally extensive than their terrestrial counterparts. Based on the observed unimodal elevation distribution, the Venusian “continental” crust would appear to completely cover the planet. This suggests that crustal recycling may consist of simply remelting at its base. Venusian tectonics is fundamentally different from terrestrial tectonics (Solomon et al., 1991) in that there is no observed evidence for large scale subduction of lithosphere into the deep mantle, no large-offset strike-slip faults, and few examples of concave ridges characteristics of cooling and spreading lithosphere. The primary mode of planetary heat loss is not tectonics as on Earth, but instead appears to be hot spot volcanism. The tectonic history of Venus is dominated by a relatively static lithosphere with lateral tectonic displacements of limited scale much like the tectonics once believed to describe the geological development of the Earth. Thus there are fundamental differences between terrestrial and Venusian tectonics in morphology, kinematics and dynamics. Venusian tectonics appears to more closely resemble the ridges and leads in a choked field of Arctic pack ice in that the unimodal crust is buoyant and completely covers the surface, the primary plate driving forces are surface tractions at the base of plates, and there is recycling of crust by basal melting rather than subduction.